New Plymouth hotel named 'most elegant' by international travel guide - Nice.
Nice Hotel owner Terry Parkes has won a luxury hotel award and an elegant hotel award for his Brougham St boutique business.
Last year this hotel was the most luxurious - this year, it's the most elegant.
The Nice Hotel has been named the Elegant Luxury Hotel of the Year by The Luxury Travel Guide and owner Terry Parkes couldn't be more proud.
"It's been 17 years since the hotel first opened and it has all been a work in progress," he said. "I've worked hard so it's nice to be recognised."
Last year, a negative review ripped apart the Nice Hotel's restaurant. Five months later, the same business was recognised as the most luxurious in an international travel guide.
The Brougham St boutique hotel, where a room for the night costs between $250 and $500, also touts one of the city's finer dining restaurants, which offers $18 entrees and $39 mains.
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Last year it was named the Luxury Hotel & Restaurant of the Year by the same UK-based travel guide.
The honour is awarded by visitors' nominations and it was evident Parkes and his staff had impressed enough of the right people.
The travel guide said the award represents "the pinnacle of hospitality achievement" and "to come out on top is truly an achievement to be proud of".
Therefore, to be named the best two years in a row demonstrated the laborious effort of himself and his staff, Parkes said.
"It isn't the standard, 'hello, how are you? What can we do for you?' It's a conversation, a connection," he said.
"When guests come in, I offer them laundry, sit them on the back patio and give them a wine, coffee or juice and help clear the back of their mind. I don't bombard them."
A path to Taranaki tourism was clearly being paved, Parkes continued.
"A few years ago, this was the only boutique hotel in New Plymouth. Now we have places like the King and Queen and the Novotel.
"And it's the owners and operators who will need to work together to continue giving these discerning travellers a memorable Taranaki experience."
When the hotel received international attention last year, it came at a time when New Zealand Media and Entertainment senior journalist Peter Calder shredded the establishment, calling it a "fine mess" decorated by someone with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
But Parkes' said one must have thick skin in the industry and refused to let negative comments keep him from giving people a genuinely enjoyable experience.
"Majority of people are really good people," he said.
"And we receive cards and letters, sometimes flowers, that show we're doing something right."
- Stuff
